Master IP Litigation: Learn How to Identify Infringement and Protect IP Quickly, Quantify Damages, and Prove Irreparable Harm

Dustin Edwards | Winston & Strawn LLP

Dustin is an intellectual property trial litigator with experience across a range of industries, including financial services, computer science, oil and gas, and biotechnology. Dustin is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® (2021–2025) for Intellectual Property Litigation and in IAM Patent 1000 (2024).

Dustin’s trial experience includes lead counsel and stand-up roles in patent litigation, patent arbitration, and trade secret litigation. A member of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) bar, Dustin has also served as lead counsel for USPTO trial proceedings, such as inter partes review, before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. His patent experience is broad and includes banking and financial technology, oil and gas technology, biotechnology, cellular telephone and wireless technologies, mobile applications, integrated circuits, coating compositions, pet food and treat products, barber equipment, footwear, and commercial diving equipment.

Dustin’s transactional experience includes preparing and prosecuting patent cases before the USPTO; preparing patent infringement, invalidity, and clearance analyses; and negotiating license matters.

Dustin was named as a Houstonia “Top Lawyer” for Intellectual Property Rights (2022–2023). He is also recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® (2021–2024) for Intellectual Property Litigation, in IAM Patent 1000 (2024), and as a “Texas Rising Star” in Intellectual Property Litigation by Super Lawyers (2010 to 2016).

William Logan | Winston & Strawn LLP

William has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and concentrates his practice on intellectual property matters, including patent and trade secret litigation. William assists his clients by combining his background as an engineer and software developer with his experience as a civil litigator appearing before a range of courts and administrative agencies.

William has experience representing clients in a broad array of intellectual property litigation matters, including patent and trade secrets litigation before state and district courts, along with inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He is a member of the firm Videogame, Gaming & Esports Group, dedicated to providing comprehensive legal solutions to companies in these industries.

Before attending law school, William built web-based applications, with a particular emphasis on applications using PHP, AJAX, and MySQL. William is also proficient in C++, Java, and Python; and he has a working knowledge of FORTRAN and COBOL.

Dr. Pallavi Seth | The Brattle Group Inc.

Dr. Seth is an expert at applying economic principles to complex business litigation matters and public policy, particularly in intellectual property.

She has provided expert testimony in intellectual property matters involving allegations of patent infringement, false advertising, and misappropriation of trade secrets. She has served as an expert witness on damages issues in district courts and in Section 337 investigations at the United States International Trade Commission (ITC). Before the ITC, Dr. Seth has testified on a range of economic issues, such as domestic industry, remedy, bonding, commercial success, public interest, and economic injury. She has aided leading companies in over 40 Section 337 investigations.

Dr. Seth has assisted counsel for government agencies, trade associations, and leading technology companies, including Intel, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Sony, Nokia, Macronix, LG, and Garmin. Her industry expertise includes high-tech and consumer products – such as semiconductors, flash memory devices, liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, smartphones, computers, and medical devices – as well as financial institutions and the automotive, pharmaceutical, commercial machinery and heavy equipment, and gaming industries.

In addition to her expertise in intellectual property matters, Dr. Seth is experienced in applying the tools of economic analysis to policy questions and has performed numerous policy analyses across various industries. In 2015, she assisted the Office of the Governor of Massachusetts in evaluating the proposed plan for hosting the Olympic Games and the economic impact that hosting the Games could have on the Commonwealth.

Dr. Seth is the former Chair of the ABA-IPL ITC Committee and is a frequent speaker at CLE events.

Laura D. Smolowe | Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

First-chair litigator and trial lawyer with extensive experience in high-stakes commercial disputes involving trade secrets, restrictive covenants, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, worker classification, privacy and fraud.

Represents companies in a range of industries, with a particular focus on technology, health care and life sciences, investment management and professional services.

Laura has more than 15 years of experience guiding public and private companies through complex and sensitive commercial disputes. She litigates matters from pre-litigation counsel and resolution through trial, before federal and state courts and arbitration panels, and has served as lead counsel to multiple Fortune 500 companies.

A seasoned trial lawyer, Laura, has substantial experience of litigating and winning—on both the plaintiff and defense side, including three arbitrations in recent years. Two of her successful trial verdicts have been named “Top Defense Verdicts” of the year by the Daily Journal.

She represents clients in matters involving a variety of challenging legal issues, including misappropriation of trade secrets, employee mobility, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, unfair competition, tortious interference, worker misclassification, privacy, legal malpractice.

Laura also maintains a robust pro bono practice focused on civil rights cases. Among other successes, she partnered with the ACLU of Southern California in two groundbreaking cases challenging police and prosecutorial enforcement of gang injunctions.

Laura received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a senior editor of the Yale Law and Policy Review. Following law school, Laura served as a law clerk for Judge Richard A. Paez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and Judge Dean D. Pregerson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Prior to joining Akin, Laura served as co-leader of the trade secret and employee mobility practice at a leading Los Angeles-based law firm.

Session I – Effective use of TROs and injunctions in high-stakes | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Strategic use of TROs and preliminary injunctions in IP cases
  • Criteria for obtaining TROs and preliminary injunctions in patent and trade secret litigation
  • Balancing speed and thoroughness
  • Defensive strategies to fight against TROs and preliminary injunctions in patent and trade secret litigation
  • Considerations for State vs. Federal Court in trade secrets cases
  • Recent case law trends
• Building a legal case in real time: Declarations, evidence & expert support
  • Role of declarations and affidavits
  • Persuasive factual narratives around misappropriation or infringement
  • Use of forensic data in trade secret cases
• Recent case law and trends

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Valuing innovation: Calculating and proving damages in IP litigation | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Calculating and proving damage in IP litigation
  • Lost profits and reasonable royalty
  • Trade secrets: Reasonable loyalty, lost profits and unjust enrichment
  • Damages considerations with claims for both trade secret
  • misappropriation and patent infringement
  • Recent trends in damages awards
• Advanced methodologies for calculating economic damage
• Best practices for working with legal teams during discovery

Break | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

Session III – Demonstrating and challenging “Irreparable Harm”: Tips for litigating this essential element of interim relief | 3:20pm – 4:20pm

• Evidence of irreparable harm
  • How to use evidence of past harm in establishing the risk of future harm
  • Whether and to what extent use and/or disclosure of a trade secret is required to establish irreparable harm
  • When can a plaintiff take advantage of a “presumption” of irreparable harm
  • Establishing an evidentiary record pre-discovery
• The balancing act of arguing that money damage is insufficient to compensate for the harm
• Evidentiary rules at the PI/TRO stage